Conference champs once more; Golden Suns roll past SWOSUBARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Fatima Adams turned in a 34-point, 12-rebound performance, while Bre Brooks chipped in 21 points, six boards, and six assists as the No. 15 Arkansas Tech Golden Suns basketball team (26-3) rolled to a 106-85 win over Southwestern Oklahoma (20-11) in the championship game of the 2016 Great American Conference tournament. NEXT UP Arkansas Tech will learn its next opponent later Sunday evening when the NCAA announces its fie...

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ATU Athletic CommunicationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Survive and Advance: ATU Golden Suns advance in the Great American Conference TournamentThey are the three most powerful words come tournament time in college basketball: survive and advance. Arkansas Tech University did exactly that on Friday night at Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville, Okla. Aujana Dawkins' layup at the final buzzer allowed the nationally 15th-ranked Golden Suns to slip past the University of Arkansas-Monticello 60-58 in the first round of the 2016 Great American Conference Tournament. With the win, top-seeded Ar...

Wonder Boys beat Northeastern StateArkansas Tech (7-10, 2-4 Great American Conference) took advantage of two Northeastern State (6-6) errors and senior outfielder Josh Watkins hit a clutch two RBI double in the eighth inning to defeat the Riverhawks 4-1 in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday at Tech Field. Next Up The Wonder Boys will return to GAC action on Friday as they will host Southern Nazarene for a three-game weekend series. The first game of the series will begin Fr...

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Wonder Boys drop home game to Delta StateThe Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys (4-6) fell behind early and couldn’t muster enough offense for a comeback as they dropped a Tuesday afternoon home game to Delta State (5-3) 15-3 at Tech Field. Arkansas Tech will begin Great American Conference play this weekend against Ouachita Baptist. The Wonder Boys will open the three-game series at 7 p.m. on Friday at Tech Field. Scoring plays DSU 1st — W. Robertson reached on an error by cf, SF, RBI (2-0 B...

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ATU Athletic CommunicationThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Golden Suns go up to No. 14 in pollATU Athletic Communication The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns (19-3, 17-1 Great American Conference) basketball continued to move up the USA Today Sports Top 25 Coaches’ Poll this week, moving up one spot to No. 14, announced Tuesday. Arkansas Tech opened last week with a huge 93-52 win over Ouachita Baptist on Feb. 11 in Tucker Coliseum. The 41-point margin of victory was the Golden Suns second-largest margin of the season since defeating Northwes...

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ATU Athletic CommunicationThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Watkins earns GAC POW honorsIn just his second week of action in an Arkansas Tech uniform, senior right fielder Josh Watkins was named the Great American Conference Player of the Week on Monday. Watkins led the Wonder Boys to a home series victory over Missouri Western as Tech won two of the three games, each by one run. For the series, Watkins went 8-for-14 (.571) from the plate with three of his eight hits being of the extra-base variety and scored four runs to go with...

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Wonder Boys win series finale against GriffonsATU Athletic Communications Junior outfielder Parker O’Dell hit a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning and Wonder Boys relief pitchers Brandan Bohuslav and Jesse Harbin helped close out the final two innings as Arkansas Tech (3-3) held on to an 8-7 victory over Missouri Western (1-2) Sunday afternoon at Tech Field. With the win, Tech took two out of three games in the series after the Wonder Boys and Griffons split the doubleheader on Sat...

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McSweeney gets 100th winATU Athletic Communications DURANT, Okla. — Alex Edinger hit a two-run walkoff single in the opening game to lift the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns softball team (2-0) to a wild 10-9 win over Central Oklahoma in the day’s opener, and then Morgan Vaughan pitched a one-hit shutout, fanning 13 in the nightcap to lead the Golden Suns to a 5-0 win over Central Missouri, as the Suns swept on day one of the Southeastern Shootout in Durant. The win over C...

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Little comes up big for Golden SunsWith her teammates in foul trouble and Oklahoma Baptist University trying to rally, Anna Lea Little came through for nationally 16th-ranked Arkansas Tech University on Thursday night. Little scored 13 of her season-high 15 points in the final 4:27 of the third quarter to allow the Golden Suns (16-2 overall, 14-0 GAC) to pull away for a 106-76 Great American Conference win over the Lady Bison at Mabee Arena in Shawnee, Okla. “Credit Anna Lea,” ...

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Adams earns GAC’s weekly honorArkansas Tech Golden Suns senior forward Fatima Adams earned the Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week on Monday. Adams put together two strong performances to lead the Golden Suns to a 10-2 record and an 8-2 mark in GAC play. Adams recorded her fifth double-double of the season at Ouachita Baptist, scoring 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. Adams ripped down 15 rebounds along with tally...

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Golden Suns add to lead in GAC standingsArkansas Tech University didn’t just maintain its lead in the Great American Conference women’s basketball standings on Monday night. The Golden Suns made a statement. Nationally 22nd-ranked Arkansas Tech dominated second-place Harding University 80-52 at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville to push its lead in the GAC standings to two games. It was the fifth consecutive win for the Golden Suns (11-2 overall, 9-0 GAC) and their 14th straight win at...

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3-Point Shooting Lifts Bisons Over Wonder BoysHarding University made 19 3-pointers en route to a 102-83 Great American Conference men’s basketball win over Arkansas Tech University at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Monday night. The Bisons (8-6 overall, 7-2 GAC) connected on 13-of-17 shots from beyond the 3-point arc in the first half while building a 54-49 halftime edge. Arkansas Tech (9-6, 4-5) pulled within 58-57 early in the second half, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Will Franci...

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ATU Athletic CommunicationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Hocker signs 'futures contract' with BengalsFormer Russellville Cyclones and Arkansas Razorback kicker Zach Hocker could get another shot at the NFL next season. Hocker signed a "futures contract" with the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 5. A futures contract allows a team secure rights to a player if they think the player has potential, thus denying another team the opportunity to sign them. A team can sign futures contracts as soon as the team's season is over. A futures contract does not ...

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Wonder Boys baseball, Suns softball 5th in GAC pollWith the start of the 2016 baseball season just 18 days away, the coaches of the Great American Conference have picked the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys to finish fifth in the league’s preseason poll, released Tuesday by the league office. The Wonder Boys finished in a tie for fourth place last season after posting a 30-21 record with a 16-10 Great American Conference mark. 2015 GAC Player of the Year Patrick Castleberry has departed, but three re...

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ATU basketball heads to OBUArkansas Tech University’s stretch of three consecutive Great American Conference basketball doubleheaders away from home will reach its conclusion today, when it takes on Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. The Golden Suns and the Wonder Boys will return home to host Southern Arkansas University for 1 and 3 p.m. GAC contests at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Saturday. Tickets for Saturday’s games ($5 adults, $3 students and senior...

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Tech-ECU info boxes for SaturdayArkansas Tech University’s Great American Conference-leading basketball teams will visit East Central University for a league doubleheader in Ada, Okla., on Saturday, Jan. 9. The Golden Suns assumed sole possession of first place in the GAC women’s basketball standings following their 70-65 win at Southeastern Oklahoma State University on Thursday night. The Wonder Boys earned a share of the GAC men’s basketball lead later that evening by domi...

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Wonder Boys roll past Savage StormDefense and rebounding were the key factors Thursday night in a 91-64 Arkansas Tech University victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Great American Conference men’s basketball at Bloomer Sullivan Arena in Durant, Okla. The Wonder Boys (9-2 overall, 4-1 GAC) limited the Savage Storm to 32 percent shooting from the field and out-rebounded Southeastern 46-35 as they extended their winning streak to eight games. “We knew we would ...

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Golden Suns rally down stretch to top SOSUWhen it came down to crunch time at Bloomer Sullivan Arena in Durant, Okla., on Thursday night, nationally 23rd-ranked Arkansas Tech University would not yield. The Golden Suns (7-2 overall, 5-0 Great American Conference) held Southeastern Oklahoma State without a point over the final three minutes of the game to defeat the Savage Storm 70-65. Arkansas Tech scored the final nine points of the game, beginning with a put-back basket by Fatima Ad...

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Top 10 sports stories from 2015In the past, to celebrate the new year, The Courier has put together stories from the previous year that we thought were the most important. This year, we used our website (www.couriernews.com) to determine which sports stories truly had the widest reach. These are our top sports stories of 2015, according to user views. No. 10 — Carter’s touchdown Being bound to a wheelchair didn’t stop Carter Roach from scoring a 2-point conversion during a ...

Community photo: Wonder Boys highlightedWonder Boys coach Raymond Monica (right) attended the Russellville Rotary Club and gave an update of the current season and highlighted local players who are making a positive impact on the team. Pictured with Coach Monica is club president Dr. John Krohn.

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